Category Archives: News

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by LAUREN TALOTTA
CHARLESTON, W.Va. ( WCHS/WVAH)
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The opioid epidemic in West Virginia continues to grab the attention of those in the nation’s capital. On Monday, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson was in town to help shine a national spotlight on the issue in an effort to find answers.

“Our citizens are our most precious resource. We have to treat them like that. We have to do everything we can to bring them to their maximum potential,” said Carson.

Hearing stories of recovery from those who have battled addiction proves to be a driving force for Carson, who serves on President Trump’s interagency task force dedicated to addressing the opioid crisis.

“This could happen to anyone. I bet there’s no one here who doesn’t have someone in their circle who has been impacted,” said Carson.

On Monday, Carson joined U.S. lawmakers to tour three drug rehabilitation facilities in Huntington and Charleston, including Recovery Point.

“I was the hopeless person you see walking along the street. That was me 19 months ago,” said Erica Bregg, a peer mentor supervisor at Recovery Point.

The 92-bed program provides hope for women like Tiffanie Tompkins and Bregg, offering long-term recovery services.

“Along the way, something just clicked,” said Tompkins. “It’s peer driven. We all relate to each other, we all help each other, we’ve all been through the same things.”

“We do all of the maintenance, we do all of the cooking, we do all of the laundry, we run the whole facility,” said Bregg.

Those components of success are what Carson wants to take with him back to Washington.

“Secretary Carson is here for all of the right reasons – to talk and to see about what’s working – the best practiced examples,” said Representative Evan Jenkins.

Tompkins and Bregg are just two of Recovery’s success stories. Both are currently enrolled in an internship program with Congressman Alex Mooney and are looking ahead to the future.

“When I look at the people here, I see incredible results,” said Carson.

“No one has gotten more results – percentage wise – than Recovery Point. Even though it’s a little different than what the so-called professionals want, you’ve gone down your own path and had better results,” said Senator Joe Manchin.

Carson also visited Rea of Hope, Harmony House, and Charleston’s HUD field office.

For Toni Pantoja recovery point was her last chance at a better future. “I know when I got out of prison recovery point just saved my life. I probably would have been back out on the streets committing crimes and strung out on drugs again if it wasn’t for Recovery Point and the staff here.”

And now she has a place to really call her own. “it’s beautiful, so many people that pay thousands of dollars and don’t get an apartment as nice as that,” said Pantoja.

This is Recovery Point’s third location, this one in Charleston. And like the others, it provides a safe haven and new beginning to people like Toni who have struggled with addiction.

The facility has 24 one bedroom apartments for women recovering from substance abuse and is the first housing facility dedicated to just women. Pantoja couldn’t be more grateful for this opportunity.

One condition is that residents are asked to pay some of their room and board, but even so residents like Toni appreciate that Recovery Point gives them a chance at survival. “they loved me when I couldn’t love myself.”

The small, cherub-like faces have long been hidden behind layers of dirt and grime.

Thanks to careful and specialized cleaning, those small faces etched into the stone of the windows and doors of the 1899 former Fayette County courthouse are now visible. Broken pieces of masonry -— including scrolls underneath decorative stone ledges — have now been restored.

“One of those pieces was broken,” said Holly Wiedeman of AU Associates, as she pointed to the stonework above one of the courthouse doorways last week. “But you can’t tell which one.”

Wiedemann is helping oversee the more than $33 million overhaul and renovation of Lexington’s fourth courthouse on Main Street. Restoration of the exterior of the Richardsonian Romanesque building began last spring. That exterior renovation included cleaning and repairing the masonry and rebuilding most of the courthouse steps that face Main Street and replacing the roof.

“We began the environmental remediation last year and began partial demolition in May 2016,” Wiedemann said. “The first phase of work was completed in February of this year. It included roof replacement, exterior tuckpointing and partial demolition.”

The building was vacated in 2002 when the new circuit and district courthouses opened a few blocks away. When asbestos and other hazardous material was discovered in 2011, the former courthouse — which held several museums including the Lexington History Museum — was shuttered. When the recession hit, the city had little money to put into the building and it further deteriorated.

Interior work began earlier this year. Much of a 1960s-era renovation that covered up the courthouse’s dome and shoved elevators into the center of the building has now been ripped out. The goal of the renovation is to take the building back closer to what it looked like before the 1960s-era renovation that chopped up the building.

The renovation and overhaul is being paid for in part with historic tax credits. To take full advantage of those tax credits, the interior renovation must be completed by December.

During a tour of the courthouse last week, crews were busy building new floors for the center of the courthouse. Those floors have an octagon-shaped opening that will be covered in reinforced glass. People will be able to walk over the glass opening.

“When people walk into the building, they will be able to look all the way up to the dome,” Wiedemann said.

Work has also begun on the long-covered dome that few Lexington natives have ever seen. A floor was inserted blocking the public’s views of the dome. That dome was also filled with the heating and air conditioning units. And lots and lots of bird poop.

That’s all gone now.

A non-original drop ceiling that was once on the top floor has been removed, exposing the rafters. The walls on that floor will be finished but the ceiling will remain exposed, Wiedemann said.

The top or fourth floor of the building will become an event space. LexEffect, an event management company, has already signed a multi-year lease.

That floor will allow for two different event spaces or one large one, depending on the event, said Kaelyn Query, president of LexEffect.

The space — named Limestone Hall — is already booked for several months in 2018, Query said.

“May and June is already booked,” Query said. “I think we only have one Saturday left in April and September and October, which are also popular wedding months, are filling up fast.”

VisitLex, the merged government tourism group, will have a visitor and welcome center on the ground floor facing the 21 C Museum Hotel. It also has an entire floor for its offices.

The Breeders’ Cup will also move its operations from Harrodsburg Road to the courthouse once it is completed. Although the major renovations will be completed in December, work to fit up office space for VisitLex and Breeder’s Cup could take additional months to complete. The Horse Farm tours is also eying space on the first floor.

Drew Fleming, senior vice president of Breeders’ Cup, said moving to the courthouse will allow the group to raise its profile in Lexington. It will also help raise the profile of the Thoroughbred racing industry downtown. Most major Thoroughbred businesses such as Keeneland are on the outskirts of town.

“We will be the only major Thoroughbred business with a downtown location,” Fleming said. “It’s a great way for Breeders’ Cup to tell its story but it will also be a starting gate for the broader story of the Thoroughbred business.”

Another big draw to the building will be Ouita Michel’s restaurant on the ground floor facing Cheapside Park.

“Ouita’s restaurant will make use of the existing patio and terraces on this side of the courthouse,” Wiedemann said.

Michel has previously said the restaurant will be casual and similar to her popular Windy Corner restaurant on Bryan Station Road.

Over the next six months, work on the interior will continue. A multi-tiered staircase that was once in the courthouse atrium but was destroyed during the 1960s renovation will be rebuilt. Elevators — which will be moved to a corner of the building — have to be installed.

Restoring the dome is a top priority but will take time, Wiedemann said.

“We are currently rebuilding the atrium floors with steel and concrete and the basement is being enlarged to accommodate all of the electrical equipment,” she said. “On the interior, artisans are beginning the process of of repairing the interior of the dome and the rotunda area.”

Charles Bertram

Mark Hardin, with American Roofing and Sheet Metal, held the 4-foot copper horse that will sit of the top of the weather vane.

The copper horse on top of the weather vane has returned to the top of the bell tower at the historic Fayette County Courthouse. Work continues on a $30 million renovation of the courthouse which is expected to take more than a year to complete. American Roofing and Sheet Metal took old copper off the bell tower and replaced the old wood before covering the bell tower with new copper. The building, which was built in 1898, has been shuttered since 2012, when asbestos and lead paint were discovered. The new horse is 4 feet long.

The public forum will explore the potential impacts of place making design, how intentional
redevelopment and infill can create more vibrant downtowns in Versailles and Midway, and the
importance of balancing future development with farmland conservation in Woodford County.

Woodford County, Kentucky (September 16, 2016) – Woodford Forward is pleased to
announce that it will convene a panel of experts at a public forum on infill,
redevelopment, place making and farmland conservation in Downtown Versailles, on
September 29, 2016.

Woodford Forward is a group of citizens and business owners that advocate for
innovative policies that promote the highest and best use of urban land and the
agricultural use of productive farmland throughout Woodford County.

As part of its community education and outreach work on land use issues, Woodford
Forward has partnered with Bullhorn Creative on Physical Education Part III – A
Discussion on Urban Development in the Bluegrass, the third in an annual series of
panel discussions on urban revitalization. Forum panelists will present their experiences
with prior successful projects and initiatives that focused on the revitalization of
downtown environments, place making, and farmland conservation. The forum provides
an opportunity for citizens to see and hear presentations from a panel of experts in
urban planning, architecture, engineering, place making, and farmland conservation, as
well as local officials.

Panelists at Physical Education Part III include engineer Marshall Elizer from Gresham,
Smith and Partners in Louisville, Rebecca Burnworth, Architect of Burnworth Design,
PLLC in Lexington, Land Project Counsel Ashley Greathouse from Bluegrass
Conservancy in Lexington, Holly Wiedemann, founding principal and President of AU
Associates, Holley Groshek, Executive Director of the Equine Land Conservation
Resource, and Regan Martin and Graham Kain from the SPARK Versailles project.

The public forum will be held at the Safe Harbor Academy at 134 Macey Avenue in
Downtown Versailles. There will be a reception at 5:30 p.m. provided by Chef Ouita
Michel of Holly Hill Inn and the panel discussion will begin at 6:30 p.m.

This education and outreach event was planned in response to a 2015 Woodford County
community survey that was completed by The Matrix Group and sponsored by Woodford
Forward. Two top priorities of the survey results were redeveloping vacant land and
property within the urban service areas and protecting key agriculture areas from
development.

“Revitalizing our urban cores in Versailles and Midway and conserving key agricultural
areas in Woodford County from development go hand in glove. These priorities are keys
to making Woodford County a vibrant destination for young professionals, families,
retirees and entrepreneurs-to live, work and locate businesses here. These are primary
focus areas of our organization.” said Billy F. Van Pelt, II, CEO. Woodford Forward has
posted the survey results on its web site, www.woodfordforward.org.

Renovation of downtown centerpiece to begin this summer

Plans include bourbon bar, event space on top floor for weddings, receptions

A second Windy Corner Market planned for part of the building

Renderings of the planned renovation of the former Fayette County Courthouse, released Tuesday. K. Norman Berry Associates and Deborah Berke Partners

A well-known restaurateur, the Breeders’ Cup, a bourbon bar and the Fayette County visitors and convention bureau are in talks to lease space at the former Fayette County Courthouse in downtown Lexington, city officials announced Tuesday.

Work on the $30 million overhaul of the courthouse on Main Street is to begin this summer, with the goal of having the building open in spring 2018, said Holly Wiedemann, one of the project managers.

Visit Lex, the city’s convention and tourism bureau, will have office space and a welcome area for visitors. Ouita Michel, chef and owner of Holly Hill Inn in Midway and several other area restaurants, is in talks to put a restaurant— which would include outdoor seating space — on the side of the courthouse that faces Cheapside Pavilion, sometimes referred to as the Fifth Third Bank Pavilion. A bourbon bar is in discussion to lease space on the ground floor that faces Upper Street and the 21c Museum Hotel.

The Breeders’ Cup and the convention and visitors bureau will have office space in the building. The top floor will be event space with capacity of almost 300 people, Wiedemann said. A private company will be responsible for renting that space, Wiedemann said. She said the Breeders’ Cup board has not yet approved the long-term lease but is expected to soon. There also has been interest from event-management companies for the fourth-floor space, she said.

“This is not going to require a constant infusion of cash from the city,” Wiedemann said. “It will be self-sufficient.”

The city released the names of the interested tenants at a council work session Tuesday.

Michel said Tuesday she plans to put a second Windy Corner Market and restaurant in the courthouse. Wiedemann and Michel worked on the existing Windy Corner Market on Bryan Station Road in northeast Fayette County. Like the original, the courthouse version will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, beer and wine, including Graham Beck wines and an extensive lineup of Kentucky Proud food products.

“It’s going to be beautiful,” Michel said. “Holly is great about blending the old and the new.”

Jenifer Wuorenmaa, a city administrator who is managing parts of the project, said a Windy Corner Market — which is known for its locally sourced but affordable food — was an ideal tenant for the center of downtown.

“We wanted it to be affordable and accessible to all price points,” Wuorenmaa said. “We also wanted the building to still have life after 5 p.m.”

Councilwoman Jennifer Mossotti, who specializes in commercial real estate, pressed the city for more details about the overall operating expenses for the building once it is completed. Mossotti said she doesn’t want taxpayers to have to continue to pay operating costs after the building is open.

Wuorenmaa said the tenants will be charged market rents, and the leases will probably be long-term. Wiedemann didn’t release detailed financial information because negotiations are continuing with some of the tenants.

City officials said they will also have a reserve fund and a capital fund to help cover costs.

The designs include recreating a two-tier stairwell on the ground floor and opening up the long-covered dome at the top of the courthouse. The dome has been covered since the 1960s, after a renovation of the building. It was the county’s fourth courthouse. The Richardsonian Romanesque building opened in 1900 and was used as a courthouse until the current courthouse complex on North Limestone opened in the early 2000s. The building housed museums until 2012, when it was shuttered after the city found asbestos and other hazardous material.

“This was one of the first buildings in the county with electricity in it,” Wiedemann said. “It had twinkle lights in the dome. We will bring back those twinkle lights.”

The city has received initial approval for federal and state tax historic credits and is waiting for final approval for some of those tax credits. Federal and state tax credits can be used for as much as $6 million of the expected $30 million cost. There is $22 million in the current-year budget for the overhaul. The city announced Tuesday that Stephen Hillenmeyer Landscape services will donate the landscaping for the project. Hillenmeyer is celebrating its 175th anniversary in Lexington.

A meeting is scheduled for June 1 with businesses near the courthouse to talk about the plans and a possible construction schedule. Environmental remediation will begin in June, with construction on the exterior to start in July and August. January 2017 is the tentative start date for construction on the interior. In January 2018, the majority of the work is to be completed on the interior and construction will be scheduled to begin for the restaurant and bar, with the goal of having the space usable in spring or summer 2018, Wiedemann said.

The council will take a final vote Thursday on issuing $12 million of the $22 million to get construction started.

$30 million renovation saves a landmark and gives it new, financially viable uses

Restaurant, bourbon bar, event space will make it again a hub of public activity

Design and construction team are among the best at rehabilitating old buildings

Architect’s rendering of plans for renovation of the old Fayette County Courthouse. This shows the top-floor event space atrium, looking up into the restored dome. The building was one of Lexington’s first to have electric lighting, and this plan restores the original decorative light positions in the dome and surrounding balcony. K Norman Berry Associates/Deborah Berke Partners

The plan unveiled Tuesday for renovation of the old Fayette County Courthouse is brilliant in many ways: It preserves one of Lexington’s most iconic buildings, it gives it new life and purpose, and it seems to be financially sound.

The project shows what can happen when Lexington leaders look for ambitious and creative — rather than cheap and expedient — solutions to a problem, and then hire top-notch professionals to get it done.

Holly Wiedemann, whose Lexington-based AU Associates has repurposed nearly 30 historical buildings for commercially viable uses over the past 25 years, is managing the project along with Barry Alberts of CITY Properties Group, which has done the same thing in Louisville, including the Glassworks district and Louisville Slugger Museum.

The circa 1900 courthouse, which was shuttered in 2012 because lead paint contamination made it an unsafe home for the Lexington History Museum, is one of this city’s most abused and neglected buildings. But by spring 2018, the $30 million renovation plan should make it a beautiful landmark and a hub of activity once again.

Lexington chef Ouita Michel, founder and owner of five popular restaurants, will be the ground floor’s largest tenant. Her sixth restaurant will be similar to the casual Windy Cornernorth of the city, which emphasizes local food at moderate prices.

Michel’s restaurant will use original outdoor terraces around the courthouse for dining space, as will a bourbon bar in the courthouse’s east front corner. Also on the ground floor will be a visitors center, with a tour bus loading zone on Upper Street.

The first floor will house VisitLex offices, while the second floor will become Breeders’ Cupheadquarters, which are now in a suburban office park. The city will lease the top floor as event space that exposes the courthouse’s historic dome and gabled roof 56 feet above the floor. A private company will operate it.

All of this commercial space will be leased at market rates, proving revenue to make the building’s renovation and continued operation viable. About $8 million of the renovation is coming from state and federal historic preservation tax credits.

The renovation is expensive, because much work on the Richardsonian Romanesque-style building will require artisan labor. Other up-front costs include energy-saving technology, such as insulated windows and geothermal heating and cooling, which will reduce long-term operating costs.

This plan follows the same philosophy of Berke’s beautiful renovation of 21C Museum Hotelnext door in the old First National Bank building: It preserves what historic fabric remains, while giving other spaces a clean, compatible new look.

There wasn’t much historical material left inside the courthouse, beyond some wood paneling in a courtroom that will be reused in the bourbon bar. The rest was stripped out and destroyed as part of a hideous modernization in 1960.

One major architectural element that was lost was a Y-shaped staircase of marble, iron and wood. A contemporary version of it will be re-created with details echoing the original, such as a wooden handrail and simulated pickets in glass side panels.

Luckily, the 1960 modernization didn’t destroy the historic dome. It was sealed up as a place to house HVAC equipment. This renovation will restore the dome and the electric twinkle lights in and around it, which were some of the first electric lights installed in Lexington.

The equestrian weather vane that stood atop the dome for decades until it was damaged in a 1981 storm will be restored or re-created.

Fire codes wouldn’t allow re-creating the original 105-foot atrium, which went from the ground floor to the dome. But that transparency will be simulated with glass floor panels in the first- and second-floor ceilings below the dome.

The restored dome and exposed gabled roof should make for some stunning event space, which will hold as many as 300 people and be open to all caterers.

“There is no space in Lexington like this,” Wiedemann said. “It is just going to be magnificent.”

The old courthouse square was a center of Lexington life from 1788 until a dozen years ago, when the courts moved to bigger quarters down the street. After that, neglect turned this block into a black hole.

Great cities are known by their great buildings. This is one of Lexington’s great buildings, and I am thrilled to see it coming back.

A ROOM NEAR THE MAIN ENTRANCE of Versailles School Apartments will become an office for its manager. Former classrooms are being converted into one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments in a South Main Street building formerly occupied by the Woodford County Community Education Center and Versailles Elementary School. (Photo by Bob Vlach)

The transformation of a former school building at 299 South Main Street in downtown Versailles into a 13-unit apartment building is ahead of schedule, according to the director of development for AU Associates, Inc.

During a site visit with The Sun last Thursday afternoon, April 14, Johan Graham said the AU Associates project should be finished and ready for leasing as early as Halloween – and not Thanksgiving as he told The Sun in February.

Graham said upfront architectural work led to few surprises during interior demolition, which also allowed construction workers to move ahead with framing the interiors of five one-bedroom, four two-bedroom and four three-bedroom apartments. Mechanical, electrical and plumbing installation work is also underway, he said. Jessey Taulbee, of Green Box Heating & Air, pictured, worked on a one-bedroom, basement apartment. (Photo by Bob Vlach)

In addition to having large photos and artwork in hallways to remind tenants and visitors that this apartment building was once Versailles Elementary School, built-in bookshelves will remain in classrooms being turned into apartments.

Tall ceilings and large windows from the building’s years as a school are also being preserved in living areas of apartments during this adaptive reuse. Hardwood floors are being refinished, and terrazzo flooring and ceramic wall tile in hallways are being preserved as well.

“That’s kind of the beauty of (this adaptive reuse),” said Graham, “people will always know” this was historically a school. He said AU Associates wants its adaptive reuse projects, including Versailles School Apartments, “to be historic and charming, but you want it to be livable too.”

To meet those needs, apartments have stackable washers and driers as well as kitchens equipped with stoves, refrigerators and dishwashers.

An open house around Halloween will allow former students and other community members to celebrate this adaptive reuse while touring Versailles School Apartments, according to Graham.

“You want to thank your community partners for letting us do something like this,” he said.

Low-income housing credits sold to investors, coupled with federal and state historic tax credits are funding construction costs of about $2.7 million, according to Graham.

He said families living in Versailles School Apartments will earn less than 60 percent of the mean income locally, which equates to about $24,000 for a single-person household and $29,000 for a two-person household (individuals earning $10 to $15 per hour).

“We’re not a government housing project so people will have to pay the rent that’s advertised – it’s just the rent that’s advertised is meant to meet those income requirements,” explained Graham. He said the long-term housing credits subsidize construction costs so AU Associates does not have to carry a heavy debt load on the project, which lowers the rent for apartments. A criminal background check for anyone interested in leasing an apartment and a secure-entry system will help ensure a safe community, he added.

The Woodford County Board of Education sold the aging school building at 299 South Main Street (most recently occupied by the Community Education Center) to AU Associates for $74,000. Founded by Holly Wiedemann in 1990, AU Associates has created over 350 units of mixed income housing, 100,000 square-feet of commercial space and over $50 million of projects across Kentucky and West Virginia, according to its website.

In 2000, AU Associates transformed an aging school building on South Winter Street near downtown Midway into Midway School Apartments.

(This article was published in the April 21, 2016, issue of The Woodford Sun, Versailles, Ky., and is used with permission.) http://www.woodfordsun.com/